Extreme! Maximum Fudge Moose Tracks - Aldi Ice Cream Review

Extreme Maximum Fudge Moose Tracks - Aldi 

As I reached for my tried and true pint of Make Fudge Not War I thought, why not try something new? This container of Extreme Maximum Fudge Moose Tracks was a seasonal product, popping back in time and again throughout the year, mostly during warmer weather, and I had never tried it. Why not now? 

For comparison, Make Fudge not War is a Ben & Jerry's knock-off with "super premium ice cream," but it's just a chocolate ice cream with brownie chunks, and this is just chocolate ice cream "maxed out" with Moose Tracks fudge. How different could they be? 

If you want to be all responsible and science-y, and compare the two nutritional panels, these are actually quite different. A serving of the Make Fudge Not War is half a cup, which clocks 310 calories, while this stuff is portioned out at 2/3rds a cup for a mere 240 calories. So you get less calories per scoop, which means there's something to the "super premium" labeling after all.  

Compared to the pint this has less fat, less sugar, and about the same amount of sodium. Health-wise, that sounds like it would be "better," right? Well when it comes to ice cream, fat is good. It makes things richer, creamier, which is why all those light ice creams are so styrofoam-y and full of air. Will this taste diet-y? 

Screaming Sour Cream Bats & Webs - Aldi

Screaming Sour Cream Bats & Webs - Aldi $1.29

Darn right I'm screaming! Halloween is on a Monday this year. What fresh hell is this? The only bright-side to today being a Monday is that on my long drive home from work I pass tons of stores and I'm going to stop in and scoop up all the Halloween clearance items! Your Halloween decoration is my year-round decor! (I may not wear the black nail polish anymore, but I'll always be a goth kid at heart.) 

Aldi may have me drowning in Pumpkin products, but their Halloween-specific goodies were pretty slim pickin's. I picked up some more of the Halloween Pasta (which makes an amazingly spooky pasta salad perfect for lunch boxes) and some fruit snacks, but other than that it was mostly bags of name brand candy and treats. When I spotted these fun spider and bat themed snacks tossing them into my cart was a no-brainer.

Make Fudge Not War Ice Cream - Aldi ($1.99)

Make Fudge Not War Ice Cream - Aldi ($1.99) 

Another long day at work deserves another pint of Aldi ice cream.

Last time I looked into Aldi's Brookie Dough, which seems like a dupe of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked, and this one looks suspiciously like Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie...but it's half the price!

Assorted Moser Roth Chocolates - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Assorted Moser Roth Chocolates - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Today has been one of those days. I woke up realizing I accidentally left two of my car windows partially down during the huge storm last night (passenger side thank goodness), I fell down the stairs while carrying my laundry to the basement, and to top things off, I sliced my right pointer finger open while trying to fix my noisy CPU fan. If there was ever a day to eat chocolate, it's this one.

I had a few different chocolate bars from Aldi's fancier line leftover from our Store Brand Chocolate Candyology101 podcast, so it's time to cram my face with candy and forget today ever happened.

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

Good & Delish Dark & Sinful Pear & Almond  - Walgreen's: Pennsauken, NJ

If you've listened to our most recent Candyology101 podcast, you'll recognize this bar from my rants and ramblings about store-branded candy. Way back in July, I bought and reviewed THIS pear and almond bar from whole foods, which was a store-branded item, and I thought it was really delicious. Even though I liked it a lot, I rarely shop at Whole Foods because things can get pretty expensive, and it's a bit out of my way, so I hadn't had another bar since.

Flash forward to winter's ever awesome cold and flu season. I was at Walgreens picking up my cold medication and I noticed the same flavor combination was being offered in their Good & Delish candy bar line. Could these be the same bars? The Walgreen's version was really affordable, and I figured I deserved a little treat since I was sick, so I picked it up. Oddly enough we decided that our theme for the most recent podcast would be store brands, so this worked out awesomely. I know I already talked about it in the podcast, but I figured this item was worthy of it's own post.

Candyology101 Episode 9: Storebrand Candies

We've all seen, and made fun of, store-brand candies. There's even a Halloween-themed episode of Gravity Falls that revolves around off-brand "loser" candies. (Or should I say Summerween?) Sure, they're fun to pick on, but some of these off brand items are actually pretty darn good!

In today's episode, Cybele and I talk about the good, the bad, and confess our guilty off-branded candy pleasures.

(Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Anyone watch Gravity Falls?

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Brand Name vs. Knock Off - Aldi's Titon vs. Mar's Milkyway

Brand Name vs. Knock Off - Choceur's Titon vs. Mar's MilkyWay

Since we just recorded a store-brand focused episode of Candyology101, which will be out relatively soon, I thought this would be a fun post to write up. I don't think I'll end up making this a regular kind of thing, I just happened to have both of these on hand and I thought this could be kind of interesting.

Normally I'm not a brand loyalist. (Which is why I love Aldi so much.) I usually go with the off-brand items to save money, and a lot of those items are comparable and occasionally better than the big name brand versions, but once and a while a name brand product shows that it's truly superior. MilkyWay has always been my favorite chocolate bar, and so far I haven't found a cheaper alternative. Can Aldi's Titon bar beat it? 

Torino Mint Chocolate Cookies - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

Torino Mint Chocolate Cookies - Aldi: Cherry Hill, NJ

It's been so long since I've reviewed anything from my beloved Aldi! My last Aldi post were these Pumpkin Seed Tortillas back on December fourth. (Speaking of tortilla chips, those Garlic Hummus ones I reviewed this summer are back.) I recently went on a little grocery run, and while I was there, I grabbed a few of their fancy seasonal sweets. I was kind of surprised, Aldi had it's own seasonal items displayed on the end-cap of an aisle. Normally they aren't into displays, things are usually lined up on shelves, but I guess the Bottom Dollar buy-out worked out well enough for them to start making their stores look a little snazzier. (Don't go getting too fancy on me, I love you just the way you are, Aldi.)

Okay, enough babbling, let's eat some cookies!